


Uncharted Wars

by Ushio_Haru



Category: The Underland Chronicles - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, Gory Gore, Mild Language, all the feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-10
Updated: 2015-05-27
Packaged: 2018-03-22 05:06:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3716251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ushio_Haru/pseuds/Ushio_Haru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It has been a little under four years since Gregor's father had closed the gate to the underland. Four years since he had last seen her. He has reoccurring nightmares that change suddenly on his sixteenth birthday at his friends house. Two or so days later, he is attacked by a stranger near central park that later tells him that he is of need. So he returns to join an expedition into unknown lands, and into the bloodiest battle he will ever see. </p><p>Luxa is having issues feeding the Growing population in her city, and decides to call Gregor once again to lead an expedition into the Uncharted lands. Not only that, but the council has decided to present her with several suitors. Most of the men have figured out to leave her alone, and have long since gone their own ways. But one ''Persistent little shit'', As Gregor will take to calling him, just won't leave her alone. And now, Gregor just has to find a way to keep him off of the throne without causing a mess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there, I am Ushio Haru. not really, but yea... I usually post on fanfiction.net, but I have to type most of my stories from a school issued laptop and they blocked fanfiction.net from their servers. So I can't do that anymore. I'm new to this site and it seems a little more professional than fan fiction, so I'll try my best. Any pointers or tips would be nice. Anyway, I had already started this on ff, and even restarted it recently, but I figured it'd be easier on this site. Also the beginning dream was originally in italics, but the site changed it.
> 
> Reviews with Respectful Criticism are encouraged, but please no hate. I don't think my fragile brain can handle hate. 
> 
> I'll be posting only the first chapter with my original authors notes (On fanfiction.net you had to post notes as part of the chapter) But I promise I won't do it again.

Okay here it is. I basically re-wrote the whole first part of the story. I did change it to better fit my new style. So I think you should re read it from here. It’s basically the same as before, But I thought it would do good to maybe add to the fear factor of the beginning dream, so I made it longer and I didn’t use a Gnawer. I also thought I’d try to make Gregor a little more… I think depressed is what I’m looking for? Not that he isn’t still the happy and nice and optimistic kiddie he used to be, I just tried to make him a little more…, well, yea. I don’t know if I got it quite right. Anyway, I hope you like it a little more now! 

Enjoy!

Disclaimer; I do not claim to own anything related to the   
Underland Chronicles. Only this story and my own plot and characters. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Chapter 1: Nightmare

‘’Gregor was in the underland again… in a cave he didn’t recognize. He spun in a slow circle using his echolocation to try and get his bearings. But all he could see was- Nothing. He couldn’t see anything save the floor. Not even the ceiling was close enough for Gregor to detect. It was the same dream again, and he knew that no matter what he did it would turn out the same. The same empty cavern to start. Then he would run at a steady pace for a while, It didn’t matter which direction. After a little bit he would find a wall, always the same jagged wall appearing from behind no matter what. The jagged, crooked razor sharp spikes that protruded from the wall and followed their own way up were always stained with a sticky crimson substance. It was obviously blood, But Gregor forced himself to believe otherwise. He would follow the wall for a while, and it would end in a cliff. And that was where his control ended too. Because no matter what he tried he would always walk straight off the rugged edge and wake up right when the pain of landing registered. When he woke up his muscles were always sore and he had a pounding headache. 

So Gregor, who knew just what to expect, began his jog. This time he chose to run backwards, just as an experiment to see if that one jagged wall would still come from behind. Gregor cursed loudly when he backed up right into the tip of a small tooth of the wall. He should have expected this, It had never changed before, so why now? He held a silent conversation with himself as he started to follow the wall, to the right this time.

It took longer than usual to reach the cliff this time, What probably took the ‘dream’ equivalent of a few minuets, took almost an hour this time. He kept running. He was tired, exhausted. Every step further that he went he expected to fall into the darkness, make an extremely painful landing, and wake up. Still, the cliff wouldn’t come. Gregor still ran, but he was out of breath. By the time he stopped and bent over to rest his hands on his knees, he was gasping for air. It took him a good few minuets to catch his breath. When he did, He looked up and found another wall had appeared before him. And it wasn’t just a wall, using his echolocation, he could sense that he was in a small cave. The cave wasn’t jagged and sharp like he had expected. It was just a plain Underland cave with two entrances side by side. One to the left, one to the right.

Gregor kept his cool, and chose to stick to his ‘right’ policy. So he followed the tunnel to the right until he came to another divide. This one had tunnels going in every direction. All of the tunnels save for one on the far left were in pristine condition. The one exception was practically falling in on itself. Nobody in their right minds would choose that one in the Waking world. But Gregor figured that this one had to have been different for a reason. So he stalked into the crumpling tunnel, slipping under boulders still suspended overhead and climbing over obstacles. The tunnel seemed to continue forever, never-ending. Sometimes… Gregor could swear that he could ‘see’ wood texture in contrast to the typical stone of the underland. 

Gregor continued his journey into the caving tunnel ignoring the faint moans and screams that seemed to come from everywhere. He told himself that he was just imagining them. After another long spell, Gregor came across a door. It was a very heavy dark oakwood door not unlike the door to the prophecy room back in Regalia. Gregor pushed lightly on the wood, but it hardly budged. Moving his feet to get better footing, Gregor put his shoulder on the door and he threw his whole weight into it. The wood scraped heavily against the stone on the floor, the hinges useless decorations against the wall. After Gregor pushed a little further the top two hinges fell of the door and it leaned heavily into the room and wouldn’t move any further.

Before he squeezed past the door Gregor realized that the screaming had ceased. It was still there, But it was way far off in the distance. It seemed that he wasn’t the only thing in this ‘dreamland’ that didn’t like the door. Gregor shook his head lightly and slid into the darkness. 

Gregor was nearly sick as the stench of death in the room finally hit his nose. He sat heaving and gagging for a good minuet before he raised his head. After a moment his eyes adjusted to the light of a single torch on the far left corner. In the far right corner, there were heavy iron chains, rusted in some places hanging from the ceiling, and attached to them was a person. A girl. A very familiar girl. 

The girl was dangerously thin. Gregor could see every bone in her body and her skin was grey and dirty. Her hair was long and filthy, having long lost its brilliant silver blonde hue, and was now so long that the ends laid crumpled on the floor underneath her. Her shoulders were obviously dislocated and Gregor could tell she had been hanging there for a long while. The tendons behind her ankles were cut so that even if she managed to get out of her chains there would be no way in hell that she could get away. 

But what really caught him off guard were her eyes. With the condition she looked to be in she might as well have been dead. But her eyes told otherwise. She was very much alive. In this situation, Gregor had expected her eyes to be filled with all sorts of emotions. But what he saw instead might have killed him if he hadn’t told himself that this wasn’t real. The once vibrant purple eyes that Gregor had fallen in love with so long ago now held nothing. No emotion… nothing. If she hadn’t looked up to see him he would’ve thought that she didn’t even know he was there. It was Luxa

Another hidden stone door opened in the room. Luxa ducked her head down to hide and Gregor slipped into the shadows. A doglike creature stalked in to stop in front of her. Doglike in the sense that it walked on four legs. In better truth the creature’s body looked almost human. It had thick, almost black leathery skin that looked like it was stitched together like a suit. The skin obviously did not belong to the creature itself. A short tail protruded from the bottom of the creatures spine. While most of the creature had the ‘skin suit’, the tail was bare bones and tendons. No skin, no muscle, no fur. While the creature had paws, it also had fingers. And on the end of each excessively long finger was a thick razor sharp claw that were all at least as long as Gregor’s hand. 

The creatures face was an even worse sight to behold as it set its black, soulless eyes on Gregor. It’s face almost resembled a bear only the muzzle was longer. From its mouth extended at least fifty razor sharp yellowish fangs, each one dripping with blood and the creatures very thick green saliva. The creature stood on its hind legs and curled back its cracked black lips to reveal the full length of its fangs, and screamed at Gregor. It was a high, bloodcurdling scream that chilled Gregor to the bone. Not because of the volume, no… volume had nothing to do with it. That scream didn’t belong to that creature. It belonged to her. The girl chained to the ceiling. 

Luxa had leaned forward with her mouth gaping open and wide eyes as if to scream, at the same time the creature released the wretched sound. Gregor barely had time to register the tears and look of physical pain on her face before she fainted. Gregor turned back to face the creature. Still at least partially convinced that this was a dream, Gregor managed to keep his cool as the creature paced back and fourth on all fours. It was testing him… waiting for an opening, eager for the meal to come. Gregor stood his ground after having made his way to the now closed door the creature entered through. There was no way he’d be able to squeeze through his door right now. The creature continued its pacing for another minuet before it dragged the tips of it’s claws across the stone floor with a loud scraping noise, sharpening them and leaving deep gashes in the stone. 

It lunged. Just before it hit Gregor ducked over it, rolled down its back, and landed on the ground behind it. The creature rammed into the heavy stone door, which almost surprisingly shattered under the weight of the blow. Gregor took his chance and jumped over the stunned creature, and flew down the hall. The creature released that same scream as before as it barreled down the hall after Gregor, tearing down everything on the walls and dragging a brooding darkness along with it. Gregor ducked into a side hall and found a room with another wooden door. He slammed the door closed. The creature came to a screeching halt and flipped around to try and squeeze itself into the smaller hallway. It reached out with its talons and splintered the thin wooden door without pausing in its pursue. Gregor had almost expected there to be another door to hide behind. Ohh, how wrong he was. The creature glinted his hideous yellow fangs at Gregor in a smile, and didn’t hesitate to lunge again…’’

 

Gregor’s eyes shot open as he woke from his dream. Sure he was sore, but not dripping in sweat like usual. His friends stared down at him. One of them had his cellphone out and had dialed 911. He closed his eyes back and breathed slowly as he gathered his bearings. He had been at his friend Larry’s house, at a sleepover. Angel was here with them. She had stayed in the spare bedroom while the boys stayed In Larry’s room. They had stayed up last night watching disney movies with Larry’s younger sister. Gregor opened his eyes again to face his friends. 

“Good morning” Gregor sat up and stretched his back with a satisfying pop.

“Its two…’’ Angel stared at him.

“Am?”

“No, Pm…”Larry told him. 

“Huh.” Gregor stood up slowly and made his way to the kitchen. 

“What the hell was that?” Angel asked as she followed Gregor into the kitchen, Larry not far behind. 

“Oh, It was a … A nightmare I guess.” Gregor pulled down a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water from the fridge. 

“You do know we called 911, You wouldn’t wake up and you were twitching and jerking like a seizure and everything.” Larry stared down Gregor to make sure he wasn’t lying about the nightmare.

“Well I guess I’ll just have to tell them I’m fine.” 

“Your sure…?” Angel folded her arms over his right shoulder. 

Gregor did a quick feel-over of his torso. His hand paused on his chest over his scar and he looked up in mock thought. He tilted his head to face her and answered.

“Uh, yeah. Pretty sure. Do I look not fine?”

“No you look fine.” Angel shifted so that she could lazily throw one arm over his shoulders and Gregor put his arm around her waist without a second thought. Larry reclined against the counter with them and also put his arm over Gregor’s shoulders. 

“Seriously tho… what are we really gonna do about that ambulance outside?” 

The three of them paused for a second.

“I guess I’ll go talk to them. Cant do any harm.” 

The three of them walked out the door. Gregor still held Angels hand, but Larry declared rather bluntly that he would not do the same because he would look gay. Gregor stared Larry down as they made their way to the ambulance. The doctors swarmed the teens and Gregor quickly stood up to them to tell them what happened. The doctors insisted that they had to check him over anyway since they were called. So Gregor sat quietly contemplating just how cramped it must have been for all of these doctors to try and fit in there. Since they were there, They checked up on Larry and Angel to. When they were done they packed up their things into the ambulance and left. 

“So… where were your parents again?” Gregor asked from Larry’s couch. He was sitting right next to Larry and Angel sat on the far end of the four seated couch with her legs laying right across the boys laps. 

“They said something about winning a small sum in the lottery, so they went on a cruise.”

“A cruise, where?” Angel sat up on her forearms to look at Larry. 

“No clue. I don’t really care either, so long as they come home.”

“Speaking of home. I’ll have to see you guys in homeroom on monday.” Gregor’s friends groaned. 

“Oh come on! You just woke up!” Angel complained loudly while she moved her legs so that Gregor could get up.

“We did not just wake up, It’s almost nine. Besides, I have to look after my sister. Both of my parents have night shifts today.”

“Can we come hang out there?” Larry stood up to pick up Gregor’s empty glass. 

“Aw hell no. I don’t think our sense of humor will bode well with Lizzie.” Gregor chuckled. 

“Bah, Humbug.” Angel gave Gregor a quick hug. Gregor tried to hug her back, But his half donned jacket made it rather awkward. Larry lugged a two liter root beer out of the fridge and thrust it at Gregor. 

“I know you didn’t want anything, so I went cheap and got this. Happy sixteenth bro.” 

Gregor eyed the root beer as he gave Larry a side hug. “Thanks. I’ll be sure it goes to good use. You didn’t poison it did you?”

“Maybe…” Larry smiled devilishly at Gregor. “Anyway, when does your mom’s shift start?”

“Crap! I gotta go. See you guys monday!” Gregor practically flew out the door.

Larry and Angel called out to Gregor out Larry’s second story window. After Gregor was a good distance away, Angel turned to face Larry and linked her hands behind his neck. 

“Well, were alone now… What ever shall we do?” 

Larry chuckled and let his hands come to rest on her waist. He leaned forward and laid a passionate kiss on her lips before smiling down at her.

“I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far ahead.” 

“Good. I haven’t either.” Angel kissed him again. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Well, how was it? About that whole part after the dream if you were confused, Gregor Larry and Angel (Angelina) all have this Bro-t-3 thing going on. Bro-T-3 is basically a mix of friendship type otp and ot-3. I think there’s a webpage somewhere that explains what those are. While Gregor is closer to Angel over Larry, it’s actually Larry and Angel that are together. Gregor still wants Luxa. Anyway, I hope I did a good job of keeping the story on the same track as before. Hope you liked it.   
And people keep telling me to use the beta reader. I’ve been using the school’s issued laptop that runs off of their network, so I haven’t posted since they blocked the fan fiction website. I can type the story on the laptop, But I have to post it from my phone. (Which I just got) 

Respective criticism is needed. I’m not a perfect writer, And I’d just LOVE to know what I can do better. Something like “More dialogue” or “Longer chapters” or even just “Post more often please” Something like that would be nice.


	2. Just passing time.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of a closer look into Gregor's daily life, without all the boring school stuff, and only the slightest bit on Luxa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here it is. Sorry it took so long, I really am. I had a little trouble dragging the chapter out to make it longer and getting to where I wanted it to be. I'm actually using my school computer to post this and there taking them up on the first of june, so I won't be posting full chapters all summer. But I can try and post little bits and pieces from my phone over summer. I mean i can try, knowing me I'll probably forget. Anyway here, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 2: Luxa

Luxa sat at the head of the table lightly patting Ushio’s head, bored out of her mind. The council was going on and on about what they should do about feeding their ever-growing population. They had been here for several hours already and hadn’t gotten anywhere. Some of the councilmen had suggested that they send scouts into the overland to negotiate for land. Yet others suggested exploring into the Uncharted Lands. One councilwoman had even suggested replanting the apple orchard near the Gnawers land. The only one Luxa found acceptable was the apple orchard. 

New York was everything they knew about the overland, and they obviously couldn’t plant farms in the middle of a city. And Luxa figured they wouldn’t be welcome anyway. If she were a part of the Overland government and had no clue that the city she called home had ever existed, she would probably see them as a threat. 

The Uncharted lands was a little more promising, only they had absolutely no clue what was out there. At least they knew there was a city in the Overland. There could be creatures larger than they had ever known in Uncharted lands. They probably wouldn’t even survive one rest out there. Unless Gregor and Ripred attended the expedition anyway.

There was no way the council would allow Luxa to attend an expedition to the Uncharted Lands. She was turning sixteen in a month or so, and they couldn’t allow her to be lost. Ushio whined lightly and rested her head on Luxa’s lap. Luxa stroked Ushio’s ear and gave her a good scratch before she stood up tall and straight, demanding attention. All debate seized.

“I vote heavily for the apples.” Luxa stated simply, grinning on the inside at her own completely outrageous statement. She silently hoped they would object so that she could order an expedition for the Uncharted lands. If only as an excuse to need Gregor again. 

“My Queen.” An older councilman that had voted for the Overland, stood with a small bow, “With all due respect… An apple orchard would not hardly help to feed the nearly three thousand new populates. We have cultivated all the land available to us and even pushed the limits of our borders. I believe we must travel to the Overland to seek aid from their government.”

“No,” Luxa sat back down, “The one thing the Warrior was most worried about was if others found us. He was afraid about what might have happened.” Ushio put both paws on Luxa’s lap and pulled herself up. God, she was heavy. 

“I will call for the warrior. If he is able, he and Ripred will lead an expedition to the Uncharted lands. If that is doomed to fail, I will travel with Perdita to the Overland to speak with their government.” Luxa pushed Ushio off her lap and stood again. She was getting restless. Viskus, her grandfather, stood and took the attention from her. 

“I have no doubt the overlander will come to our aid again. I only hope that the expedition will succeed without difficulty.” Viskus wobbled over to stand behind Luxa and mumbled in her ear,  
“I will send Arthur to find him.”

Luxa nodded slowly, “I will give Arthur three days to bring him back.” ‘I’ll punch him if he’s late, with or without the warrior’ Luxa added in her head with a grin. “The meeting is dismissed.” 

All the councilmen stood, bowed, and left the room. Luxa stayed a short while longer before she stood and left the room, nearly dancing down the hallway. Gregor was going to come, she just knew it! Ushio trotted next to Luxa as they made their way to the Museum, where the Underlander’s kept everything related to the overland that they ever found. On Hazards seventh birthday after the party, Gregor had stashed his camera and all the pictures here on a shelf. Luxa snatched all the ones he had taken of them and settled into the pile of blankets and the tarp that Gregor had put there four years ago, where they had their first kiss. She spent the whole afternoon, and almost all night, sitting there and flipping through the photos before falling into the most peaceful sleep she had had in years.

——————————————————————————————————————————————  
Chapter 2: Gregor

Gregor fumbled into his apartment and tossed the keys into the bowl next to the door. He waddled into the kitchen nearly dropping several groceries on his way before depositing said groceries onto the counter with a grunt. He had been on his way home from his friends house and his mom had texted him a fairly long list of things to buy. So Gregor came home, got the car, went to at least two stores to find what he needed, and didn’t get home until almost eleven. His sisters were asleep, his mom was on the night shift covering for a coworker, and his father had night classes at his collage. 

Gregor opened the root beer that Larry got him and plopped down on the couch. He flipped on the television to some random channel and settled down for the night. He didn’t hardly ever sleep at home, and when he did, it was never in his own bed. There was about a year of lucid nightmares before his recurring dreams started, and now it was kind of instinctive for him to sit awake for most hours of the night. 

So Gregor sat. And sat. And sat. He watched through at least four different shows. The first was about aliens, and kept coming up with completely outrageous theories about how humans might be part alien or whatever. The other shows weren’t much different. Weird theories, aliens, secret societies and whatnot. 

It was about six in the morning when the first sister woke up. Lizzie, who was twelve now, stumbled lazily out of her room and towards the bathroom, not even noticing Gregor sitting on the couch. Boots, who now went by Meg, came out not long after and sat next to Gregor. Gregor grabbed the remote and switched the channel to his sister’s favorite show, The Legend of Korra. (I have a rather unhealthy obsession with this show)

“Good morning, Gregor.” 

“Good morning mom.” Gregor lazily watched his mom saunter into the room carrying her purse and her diner uniform over one shoulder. 

“Did you stay up all night again?” Gregor glanced from the tv to his mom before answering carefully. 

“No…..“

“Lies. Lies, all of it.” Grace slipped off her coat and sat down on the couch next to her son. “You have school. You have to sleep ‘else you won’t be able to stay awake for classes.”

Gregor sighed and looked at Meg. “I’m in after liz. You have a whole hour after us.” 

Grace stood up after a minute. “Come on boots, I’ll make us some pancakes.”

Lizzie slipped out of the bathroom in a towel just as Grace disappeared into the kitchen. Gregor waited for Lizzie to go into her room before he got in the shower. 

It wasn't a long shower, only a few minuets. Gregor was in and out by the time his friends were at his door. He brushed his teeth after slipping on his black sleeveless pearl jam t-shirt, some one sized to big silver to black faded skinny jeans his biking jacket, black converses and a beanie. The three friends and Gregor’s sister rushed down the street towards Lizzie’s school to drop her off. Jedediah, Lizzie's best friend, met her in front of the school and the two disappeared into the building. 

Gregor, Angel and Larry managed to make it into homeroom before the bell rang. Home room went by the same as usual, the pretty girls all fawned over the two jocks, The 'otaku' spoke amongst themselves in the back, occasionally mingling with the nerds. Gregor’s school seemed to harbor just about every high school stereotype to be found. The bell rang after not too long of sitting and the trio shoved their way through the crowded hallway's to try and stop by their lockers, which were in the opposite direction too their first and only class together. 

... ... ...

"Oh, just missed detention. Good thing you weren't late again." Mr. Gibson stated in an upbeat voice, his usual bright smile complimenting his aging features. 

"Progress." Angel answered to 'Captain' Gibson with the same warm kindness as the three of them took their seats, partially out of breath. 

Gregor and Larry chuckled from their seats. Larry sat directly behind his girlfriend and Gregor sat to Larry's left, in the second row of seats from the front, right next to the window overlooking the track and field. Gibson started his lesson of oceanography without any real complaints to the trio being late almost every day. Gregor clasped his fingers behind his head and leaned back, gazing out at the track and only half listening to the lecture. The freshman who were trying out for different fall athletic teams were doing laps around the track. Most seemed to be having a hard time keeping up with the 'retiring seniors, but there were two who were actually ahead of the pack. Gregor let a cocky grin slip. The try-outs for track were during his lunch hour. 

——————————————————————————————————————————————  
Luxa

Luxa woke up slowly, comfortably. The light from a nearby torch flickered across her still closed eyes, bothering her sleep sensitive eyes. She rolled over lazily and cuddled into the warm body that had previously been curled up against her back. Ushio hardly stirred as her girl settled back into oblivion. luxa sat up hardly an hour later and stretched, her back bending the opposite direction almost painfully before she stood up and left the museum to find a meal. She strolled down the hallway at a quick pace with Ushio trailing close behind, still to tired to remember why she felt so happy on this particular morning. 

By the time she made it to the High Hall, there was already a fair size gathering of council officials, including Viskus and Arthur, the suitor presented to her by the council. Before she could question what was happening a guard approached her, bowed low, and loudly announced,

“My queen, Arthur has been prepared to retrieve the Overlander.” Luxa glanced at Arthur only to find him grinning like a fool, obviously pleased with himself. She groaned inwardly before turning back to the guard to listen to the details. “He has planned to hide out just inside the entrance near the Overlander’s home. If the Overlander will not show there, Arthur will seek him in Central park.”

Luxa nodded to the guard before finally turning her full attention to Arthur. Said boy also turned to face her, leering in a most unkind way before approaching her. He reached out to embrace her and she shamelessly declined. 

“You have three days.” She mumbled so only he could hear. “If your late, you get hit. If you don’t bring him, its to the jungle for a month.” She jabbed her finger threateningly into his collar bone.

“If I’m on time and I bring him?” Arthur sneered, trying to stare her down.

“Then I’ll give you a fish.” Luxa glowered and turned from him.

Arthur raised his hands in mock defeat before mounting his flier, A skinny bat that almost resembled death itself, with all the hideous colors of black, green and blue in its fur… and it’s eyes were almost glowing red as it glared at her before finally taking off. 

Luxa stood there for a second trying to regain her composure. She hated the decision to send Arthur after the object of her love, for him to be the first impression Gregor is to have of her newly refined council. But Luxa was nonetheless happy to be rid of Arthur for a day or two. She pulled herself out of her daze to join her friends from the quest during the prophecy of grey at lunch.

——————————————————————————————————————————————  
Gregor

Gregor ran ahead of all the freshmen who were trying out for the track team. There were twenty three who were trying out, and they only had room for ten in fall semester. It would be hard for Gregor and coach Creveling to choose. They were all fast. The first ten dropped out once they reached the second mile, having only trained for one. Gregor kept it going, he needed three more to give up. He could see two at the back who were having trouble, and there was only one at the front keeping full pace with Gregor with no trouble. Gregor kept on, but he was starting to run out of breath. The last two dropped out before he realized that the one next to him hasn’t been breathing for a while. He glanced over to the girl just in time to see her collapse completely.

… … … 

The best freshman in the tryouts had tried way to hard for her own good and collapsed right before the two in the back had dropped out. He had gone to the infirmary to offer her a spot on the team and she had politely refused, telling him that she only wanted to see if she could do it. Not that he minded all that much… only she was the best one at tryouts. Other than that, the day had gone by without incident. He managed to have about five minutes for lunch and his other classes were boring as usual.

… … …

Disturbed’s Warrior began to play on his I-pod, filling Gregor with a sudden power as his fists flew at a faster pace towards the bag. He threw in a kick and an elbow or knee here and there too, making the bag sway harder than usual. His knuckles were swollen and the blood was turning the tape pink around the holes that were beginning to form there. The song slowed just a little as the lead singer stretched out the last note before the song ended completely. Gregor rested the length of his forearms on the bag to stop it from swaying while he laid his head on the bag to calm his breathing. 

He went through two more songs on the album like this, his head on the bag and probably breathing harder than necessary. A shadow moved on the floor causing Gregor to pull his earphones out and look up to see Angel standing against the door frame. 

“Hiya sport.” She grinned and moved to squat next to him.

“Hey, and don’t call me sport. I’m older than you.” Gregor smiled warmly to her, leaning back on his heals to stumble back into the wall and slide heavily to the floor. 

“Blowing off steam?” She sat next to him and bumped his side with her elbow. 

“Nah. I come here every day.”

“Every day?”

“Well, not saturdays. And most sundays after church.” Gregor threw his arm across her shoulders. “Why are You Here, I wonder?” 

Angel leaned into his side just a bit. “To blow off some of my own steam… Larry’s being all secretive about something and it won’t stop nagging at the back of my mind.” She reached out and took hold of one of his hands, pulling off the tape and inspecting his knuckles.

Gregor watched their hands as her fingers tenderly felt his knuckles over before he grabbed her around her waist and pulled them both off the floor. He strode over to one wall of the gym and pulled two pads off of a hook, showing them to her with a grin. 

“What are those for?’ Angel took one from him and inspected it. Gregor grabbed it back and held it up so that she could see the straps on one side. 

“I strap these around one arm, same for the other one, and hold these up as targets for you to hit.” Gregor skipped them both on. “I could just stand there and take it, but that would defeat the purpose of me. So I’m gonna move around, and you’re gonna pretend that these targets are openings in an enemy’s defenses, and hit them any chance you get. Perfect for blowing steam” Gregor grinned at Angel.

… … …

To any passersby the two of them would seem to be almost too fast, too in sync to be human. They may as well have been dancing across the sweat soaked matt. Angel didn’t pay attention to anything other than the pads on Gregor’s arms, throwing such wild and unrestrained hits that Gregor spent half the time dodging them. Hit after hit made contact with the pads, most almost knocking Gregor off of his feet. At one point she threw her right leg behind her and swung her whole body around to increase her momentum before finally slamming the heal of her foot all the way across both pads, knocking the left one off of Gregor’s arm.

“I think we should take a break. You blowing off steam is starting to… hurt.” Gregor breathed as he stood up from the matt. 

“I just don’t get it…” Angel began while she slipped off her gloves. Other people at the gym saw that the two were done and had quickly lost interest in the spar. “What is so bad that he has to keep it a secret? Does he think he can’t trust me or something?”

Gregor dug into his bag to find his water bottle before he plopped heavily onto a bench on the edge of the gym. “Could be a lot of things I guess… none of them seem very pleasant though.” Gregor swigged from the bottle and handed it to her. “Hell, he might just be jealous that we’re together all the time.”

“Well I guess… but its not like it’s romantic or anything right?” Angel took a gulp of his water before pouring some over her head, thoroughly soaking the top of her golden hair and half of her ponytail. She sat down next to him as close as she could possibly get without literally sitting on him. There were some guys across from them that were giving her a weird vibe. Gregor slung an arm over her shoulders and reclined against the wall to catch his breath, with Angel not far behind. 

It didn’t take long before his breath caught up to him. When it did Gregor stood and toweled himself off before slipping his t-shirt back on.

“I gotta go watch my sisters, my mom’s on the night shift again.” 

Angel stood up with him and took her own bag and followed Gregor to the door. “Can I stay over tonight? I don’t wanna spend the night with those damned nuns again, there always fawning.” 

Gregor held the door open for her and the pair emerged into the crowded New York streets.   
“Can’t you stay over at Larry’s again? I’m sure he’d be more than happy.”

“That’s the point. I want to stay with you so I can sleep.” Angel had to almost walk on her toes so she could rest an elbow over his shoulders.

“Fine. But try not to make it a regular thing, ‘kay?”

Angel grinned back up in his direction as he smiled back down to her.

——————————————————————————————————————————————  
Luxa

 

Luxa curled further into herself under the covers of her overly large bed. She wasn’t usually a picky sleeper, but tonight something just seemed a little bit off. She had tried sleeping in multiple places that night, causing a good several guards to give her funny looks every time they found her in a corner of some room or wandering around and practically snarling. But they had learned better than to ask these four years. Luxa sat up and fell back face first into the bed, the overly plush pillow nearly engulfing her whole head as she suppressed a growlish scream. There was no way in hell she was going to sleep until Gregor was back…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't think it turned out as long as I wanted it too, but it's long enough. I remembered how mrs. Suzanne Collins never really went into depth about Gregor's overland friends, so I thought I'd try something. A little more will be explained about Angel in the next few chapters. Anyway, lemmie know what you think. Good? Bad? I can't please everybody but I can try and be better.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I'd like it if you could mention parts that you liked or disliked, Or even vague ideas for future chapters in some comments. Btw, I always found it easier to post a review when I acted as though I was talking to the author in person... if that helps at all...   
> Also, I see how short the chapter looks on this site, So I'll try to make them longer in the future.


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